What is a Community of Interest (COI)?
A COI is a group of people in a defined geographic location that share a common bond or interest. The definition is broad, leaving communities a lot of discretion in determining which issues are important to them. Communities of Interest are often defined as “a contiguous population which shares common social and economic interests that should be included within a single district for purposes of fair and effective representation.”
Communities of Interest are best documented through oral, written, or digital input from individuals or groups with first-hand knowledge of them. Census and other outside data can lend support, but cannot replace personal knowledge of the community. That’s why we want to hear your feedback on your community; you know it best!
What We Want to Hear About:
Please answer the following questions:
1. What your Community of Interest?
Please describe what the common interests of your community are, and why or how they are important. For example:
- If your Community of Interest is built around a school then your testimony should include the name and location of the school and describe the community’s involvement in it or why it is important. You might say that the surrounding community is involved with the school in various ways and perhaps accesses a variety of educational and recreational opportunities there.
- You may also identify a Community of Interest based on a shared culture or heritage of residents in a specific area. Please indicate why it is a common bond, e.g. “because of our shared history and language, we work together on cultural projects and this creates a sense of unity and understanding.”
2. Where is your community located?
Tell us where the exterior boundaries of your COI are so we can locate it on a map. For example, write down landmarks, streets, bodies of water, or railroad tracks that indicate the location of the outside border of the community.
A map showing the location of the COI, along with oral or written testimony identifying the location, can be extremely helpful to locate the COI. A map can be created using free online programs such as drawmycacommunity.org. Please find directions for how to submit COIs online in our handout “How to Create Your San Francisco Community of Interest (COI) Online”.
3. Why should your community be kept together in one district?
When you talk about your Community of Interest, consider explaining why it should be kept together in a district and why splitting it would be problematic. For example:
- A Community of Interest working on improving a specific school may find it more effective when residents in the respective area can work together with one representative, rather than multiple representatives.
- A small COI that is working to receive government support may find that it has lesser chances of receiving support if it is split into two.
Additional Resources
- How to Create Your Community of Interest (COI) Online
- 如何在線上建立您的共同利益群體(COI)
- Kung Paano Lumikha ng inyong Community of Interest (Komunidad na may Magkakatulad na Interes, COI) Online
- Cómo crear su Comunidad de Interés (Community of Interest o COI) en línea
- Redistricting Glossary
- 三藩市選區重劃術語表
- Talasalitaan ukol sa Pagsasaayos Muli ng mga Distrito
- Glosario de Redistribución de Distritos de San Francisco
- Written COI Form
- 描述您的三藩市共同利益群體(COI)
- Ilarawan ang inyong Community of Interest (Komunidad Kung Saan Kayo May Interes, COI) sa San Francisco
- Describa su Comunidad de Interés (Community of Interest o COI) de San Francisco